How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts by Robert Williams Wood.
Chapter 1
How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts
A revised manual introducing the field of flornithology for beginners, humorously confusing birds with flowers and other natural elements.
Chapter 2
Intro‑duc‑tion
The author introduces a humorous guide to flornithology, critiquing traditional nature books that confuse plants and birds, and presenting a new collection that explores the strange homologies between flowers and birds.
Chapter 3
Burr; Bird
The chapter humorously highlights the common confusion between a bird and a burdock, noting that few people can tell them apart and even Mr. Burbank cannot transform a bird into a plant.
Chapter 4
The Crow; The Crocus
This chapter humorously explores the confusion between a crow and a crocus, attributing the mix-up to ignorance of nature's laws. It plays on homophones and bird behavior, contrasting the cawing of crows with the silent crocus.
Chapter 5
The Clover; The Plover
The chapter humorously distinguishes between the plover and the clover by referencing the habits of bees and the expertise of entomologists and etymologists, playing on the presence or absence of the letter 'B'.
Chapter 6
The Ole Gander; The Oleander
A playful comparison between the mobile gander and the stationary oleander plant, highlighting the gander's freedom to walk and the oleander's inability to move, being tied up by the gardener to prevent it from running to seed.
Chapter 7
The Hen; The Lichen
This chapter contrasts the simple, two-dimensional existence of lichens with the greedy and careless lifestyle of the hen, highlighting their different habitats and diets.
Chapter 8
The Pelican; The Panicle
This chapter highlights the common confusion between the pelican and the panicle, using an anagram to clarify the distinction and referencing a blunder made by Mr. Gray.
Chapter 9
The Pea; The Pewee
The chapter humorously explores the difficulty of distinguishing between a Pea and a Pewee, highlighting the confusion that arises from their similar names and appearances.
Chapter 10
The Parrot; The Carrot
This chapter humorously explores the confusion between a parrot and a carrot, noting their similar appearance and sound, but distinguishing the parrot by its ability to speak.
Chapter 11
The Rue; The Rooster
A short verse distinguishing the rooster's loud crow from the rue plant, emphasizing the rooster's disruptive effect on sleep and a playful wordplay on 'rue' as both a plant and a verb.
Chapter 12
The Hawk; The Hollyhock
This chapter humorously distinguishes the hawk from the hollyhock by observing a broody hen's reaction: she tolerates hollyhocks near her chicks but cannot abide the hawk, highlighting the absurdity of confusing a bird of prey with a flower.
Chapter 13
The Pecan; The Toucan
This chapter humorously addresses the common confusion between the Toucan bird and the Pecan nut, offering a simple method to distinguish them: the difficulty of picking a Toucan from a tree versus the ease of picking a Pecan.
Chapter 14
The Cat‑bird; The Cat‑nip
This chapter humorously compares the Cat‑bird's call to that of a cat and describes Cat‑nip's effect on cats, using wordplay to highlight the absurdity of the names.
Chapter 15
The Quail; The Kale
A humorous comparison between the California Quail and kale, highlighting the confusion between a bird with a tail on its head and a vegetable with a cabbage-head on a tail, emphasizing the importance of careful observation.
Chapter 16
The Auk; The Orchid
This chapter humorously contrasts the habitats of the Auk and the Orchid, noting that the Auk lives in the Arctic zone while Orchids thrive in equatorial regions, and warns travelers to be mindful of temperature to avoid confusion.
Chapter 17
The Cow Bird; The Cowslip
A playful chapter exploring the confusion between the cowslip plant and the cowbird, highlighting how names can mislead through homophones and visual assumptions.
Chapter 18
The Butter‑ball; The Butter‑cup
This chapter contrasts the singing Butter‑cup with the quacking Butter‑ball, using the comparison to teach identification of the flower through its song.
Chapter 19
The Roc; The Shamrock
The author expresses skepticism about the mythical Roc from Sinbad's tales, considering it a sham, and notes that the shamrock is associated with St. Patrick's Day.
Chapter 20
A Sparrer; Asparagus
The chapter contrasts the fall of a sparrow with the rooted stability of asparagus, humorously noting that asparagus never falls because it spends its life in the bed.
Chapter 21
The Blue Mountain Lory; The Blue Morning Glory
This chapter explores the theme of visual deception in nature, describing how insects disguise themselves as leaves and twigs to avoid being eaten by birds, and how a vine mimics the form of a bird to evade botanists.
Chapter 22
The Tern; The Turnip
A humorous poem instructing readers on how to distinguish a Tern (a bird) from a Turnip (a vegetable), emphasizing the Tern's ability to fly and turn in the air versus the Turnip's rooted, inert nature, with a playful pun on 'eternally' and 'cooked to a tern.'
Chapter 23
The Larks; The Larkspur
The chapter humorously warns against criticizing the author's drawing of larks, referencing the perpetual soaring of larks in minor poetry and the secure perching of larkspurs on garden stalks.
Chapter 24
Cross Bill; Sweet William
The chapter humorously addresses the absurdity of confusing Sweet William with Cross Bill, while exploring other plants that express emotions through their names, such as mad-wort, weeping willows, sigh-press, passion-flower, gladiolus, and smile-ax.
Chapter 25
The Ibis; The ’Ibiscus
This chapter contrasts the sacred Ibis, a bird embalmed and mummified in ancient rituals, with the 'Ibiscus (Mallow), a bog plant that resists desiccation and lacks religious veneration.
Chapter 26
The Pipe; The Snipe
This short chapter contrasts the hybrid Indian Pipe with the high-bred English Snipe, highlighting the Snipe's superior pedigree as a distinguishing feature.
Chapter 27
The Jay; The Bay
This chapter humorously compares a Blue Jay to a green Bay tree, suggesting that the only way to distinguish them is through their difference in color, emphasizing the importance of color sense.
Chapter 28
The Gent‑ians; The Lady‑bird
A playful verse explaining the Ladybird's attraction to flowers, particularly the Gentians, through wordplay and courtship metaphors.
Chapter 29
Puffin; Nuffin
A short verse describing a puffin perched on ice and the speaker's failed search for its double, finding nothing instead.
Chapter 30
The Bee; The Beet; The Beetle
The chapter humorously explores a pseudo-evolutionary connection between bees, beets, and beetles, playing with word homophones and Darwinian theory to suggest the beet as a missing link.
Chapter 31
The Bunny; The Tunny
This chapter highlights the confusion between bunnies and tunnies, pointing out that superficial naturalists mistake their heads and tails due to carelessness.
Chapter 32
The Puss; The Octo‑pus
A humorous warning about the potential confusion between a household cat (Puss) and an octopus, highlighting the domestic chaos that could ensue if one mistakenly acquires an octopus instead of a cat.
Chapter 33
The Eel; The Eelephant
The chapter humorously explores the absurdity of confusing an eel with an elephant, attributing such folly to a peculiar point of view.
Chapter 34
The Ant; The Pheas‑ant
A brief verse distinguishing the ant from the pheasant by noting the ant's antennae and the pheasant's lack thereof, compensated by a small red cap (a fez) to avoid baldness.
Chapter 35
The Hare; The Harrier
The Harrier is harassed by the Hare, reversing the typical predator-prey dynamic, and the author expresses delight in seeing the tables turned.
Chapter 36
The Pen‑guin; The Sword‑fish
A playful critique of the proverb 'the pen is mightier than the sword,' reimagined through nature's own choices, where the Sword-fish is declared mightier than the Penguin.
Chapter 37
The Gnu; The Newt
This chapter contrasts the Gnu, who proudly wears a coat of bristling hairs, with the Newt, who is nude and hides beneath the brook's surface, only emerging for a necessary breath of air. The text plays on words like 'gnu' and 'newt' to create humorous and absurd distinctions.
Chapter 38
The Ray; The Raven
The narrator expresses a strong dislike for the Ray (or skate), criticizing its ugly mouth, misplaced eyes, and lack of a face. In contrast, the Raven is preferred despite its black, morose appearance and its association with Edgar Allan Poe. The chapter highlights the visual and perceptual differences between the two creatures.
Chapter 39
The Ape; The Grape
The chapter humorously traces human lineage to apes, playing on the word 'ape-x' and 'arborigenes' to explain monkeys' tree-dwelling nature, and connects this to the harvesting of grapes for wine, invoking Bacchanalian revelry.
Chapter 40
The Doe; The Dodo
The chapter explains that the confusion between the Doe and the Dodo is resolved because the Dodo has been extinct for many years, having refused to board Noah's Ark due to pride, which simplifies the nature book.
Chapter 41
The Pipe‑fish; The Sea‑gar
A brief cautionary verse warning against the mistake of smoking a herring, and advising the reader to instead consider the pipe-fish and the long sea-gar when smoking after-dinner fish.
Chapter 42
The Elk; The Whelk
This chapter contrasts the elk and the whelk through their distinct roars: the elk's roar is heard across the sky, while the whelk's roar emanates from its shell, each roar indicating the presence of the respective creature.
Chapter 43
The P‑cock; The Q‑cumber
The chapter uses wordplay to distinguish between a P-cock and a Q-cumber, emphasizing attention to detail and the importance of minding one's P's and Q's.
Chapter 44
The Sloe; The Sloth
The chapter humorously highlights the confusion between the sloe (a fruit) and the sloth (an animal) through a pun on the word 'gin,' warning the reader to be cautious with such homophones.
Chapter 45
The Cow; The Cowry
The chapter introduces the Cowry as a mouthpiece for the Cow, suggesting a visual and verbal likeness that the author attempts to portray.
Chapter 46
The Antelope; The Cantelope
A humorous comparison between the cantelope (a melon) and the antelope, highlighting their different reactions to being tapped: the cantelope stays still and emits a 'melon-choly' sound, while the antelope flees, revealing its misanthropic nature.
Chapter 47
The Pansy; The Chim‑pansy
The chapter observes the pansy's human-like face, painted in yellow, blue, and black, but notes that the face resembles a chimpanzee, which diminishes the flower's appeal.
Chapter 48
Naught; Nautilus
The chapter introduces the Nautilus as a whimsical composite creature, blending snail, jellyfish, and paper sail, and concludes with the playful discovery that its double is 'Naught'.
Chapter 49
The Coot; The Bandicoot
The chapter humorously discusses the common Coot (or mud-hen) and the Australian Bandicoot, suggesting the latter springs from 'Kanga-roots' and their ancestral tree, with a playful motto.
Chapter 50
The Pitcher Plant; The Fly‑catcher
This chapter humorously redefines the Pitcher Plant as a baseball pitcher and the Fly-catcher as a baseball catcher, playing on the double meanings of their names to create a whimsical analogy between botany and baseball.
Chapter 51
The Yellow‑hammer; The Saw‑fish
The chapter presents a whimsical comparison between the Yellow-Hammer (or Flicker) and the Saw-fish, with the narrator defending the artistic depiction of the bird while critiquing the absurdity of the fish illustration, blending humor and skepticism about visual representation.
Chapter 52
Author's Add‑end‑'em
The author concludes the book by addressing the reader directly, summarizing the lessons on distinguishing birds from flowers, and humorously dismissing the works of Darwin, Audubon, and Gray as outdated. He declares his work finished and bids farewell, leaving the field to the reader.
Chapter 53
Endnotes
The chapter consists of endnotes, including a note on the etymology of 'pneumatic' from the Greek word for air, and a note on the taxonomic relationship among bandicoots, kangaroos, and opossums.
Chapter 54
List of Illustrations
A series of visual comparisons between birds and plants (or other objects) based on silhouette similarities, presented as illustrations.
